A devastating flood has cut off 4000 school children from going to school, sacked 300 families in six villages of Amawbia Community in Awka South Local Government area of Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria.
The disaster has also cut them off from their kits and kin from the neighboring, Nise, Nibo, Umuokpu and Agukwu Nnri towns. Miraculously, two children escaped from being washed away by the flood.
The natural disaster happened as the leader of the proscribed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is billed to lead a delegation of the Biafra agitators to the United Nations office in Geneva, Switzerland.
IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, who made this known in a statement said details of their engagements will not be made public yet: ‘’Going by the relentless engagement of the international community by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, we the global family of the IPOB consider it imperative to inform the great people of Biafra.
‘’Others are friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom that in keeping with the promise of our leader during his last outing at the EU, he will be leading a delegation to the UN office in Geneva Switzerland on Tuesday, September 18, 2019.
‘’As usual details of these meetings will not be subject to public disclosure as we are well aware of the lengths the corrupt, fraudulent and election stealing cabal will go to hamstring and frustrate our efforts.’’
In the mean time, the Director of Community Environmental Media Awareness (CEMA), Okey Maduforo, said ‘’the situation needs urgent attention by the state government before the entire community is sacked’’.
Also affected by the erosion include, Union secondary school, Kabe College, May Rose Hotels as the link roads to those public facilities have become inaccessible by motorists and other road users in Adebebe village.
The residence of a state legislator representing Awka South II State Constituency, Chukwuma Okoye (aka) Nwanayoeze, has equally been cut-off. Local reporters say the lawmaker could not be immediately reached as he was said to be away on an oversight function.
The Adebebe road construction was commenced three days to the conduct of state Assembly elections only to be abandoned after the election hence paving way for the perennial flood and ultimate gully erosion in the area.
When schools resumed on Monday, 4000 pupils and students were not able to return to their schools as vehicular movements have become impossible and school children had to carry their boxes across the gully.
Farm lands and buildings under construction along Adebebe-Nise Road are said to be at risk as the next heavy rain is likely to wash them into the Obibia River in the area.
Two children were last Wednesday saved from their untimely death when a heavy downpour flushed them into the gully while they were coming back from the farm. It took a timely intervention of some artisan workers at a building site to save the situation.
According to one of the children, Miss Tochi Nwanna 16yrs old, ‘’we were carrying fire wood on that day and the flood was too much and we did not know where to step on and suddenly my younger brother fell into the flood and when I tried to hold him, I did not know how I fell in
Also. He was inside the flood and I was crying for help until some people working in that building came and helped us.’’
Maduforo says Amawbia people and its residents have spent well over N800 million in the last seven years to fight environmental degradation without the assistance of the state government
‘’As it stands now, the community is closed to enjoying the same status with the Ekwulobia gully erosion as the area shares the same topography with other erosion ravaged communities in Anambra’’, the former newspaper correspondent said.
